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(2013-11-17)  
This most elementary form of poker serves as the basis for video poker.

After posting antes and/or blinds, every player receives 5 cards face-down and alive betting round  takes place (where players may fold). Then, every active player is allowed to discard some or all of his initial cardsand receive replacements for them. Once everybody has done this, a final betting round takes place. If two or more active players remain, a showdown takes place between them andthe best hand  wins the wholepot. If two or more hands have the same value (the 4 suits are placed on the same footing in poker) then the pot is split among the winners.

Video poker is essentially 5-card draw with antes only  (no live betting) and some conventional payout schedule which depends on the quality of the hand obtained. So transformed, poker becomes a single-player game  (gambler vs. machine) which is now, by far, the most popular theme for slot machines  in casinos.

(2002-07-17)  
They're divided into 10 classes whose values vary inversely as their sizes.

No cheating;  a Smith & Wesson beats five aces.

In all variants of poker, only 5 cards are compared to determine the winner. There are 10 types of such 5-card poker hands. Within each type, ties are broken by comparinglexicographicallythe ranks of the cards as they appear in the standard designation of the hand (based on the elementary order of lone cards  AKQJT98765432). As all four suits are placed on the same footing in poker, ties may subsist.

There are C(52,5) = 2598960 different poker hands  [count them] and each of them is dealt with thesame probability in the initial round of draw poker 

Theprobability of a given type of hands is thus the number of such handsdivided by 2598960. When the probability of something is  x / (x + y), its so-called odds  are said to be either x to y in favor (a player is said to be an "x to y favorite") or y to x against  (a player is then called a "y to x underdog" or a "y to x dog"). The former type of odds is shown in the table below, where the bold numbers  (10)  within formulascorrespond to the number of straights under the standard single-wheel  rules...

"High Card"  means five singletons not in sequence and not in the same suit.

Let's call  p  the pip count  of the highest card in such a hand,extended in the usual way to court cards (p is 11,12,13,14 for J,Q,K,A respectively). A  p-high  hand is obtained by selecting 4 different ranks between 2 and p-1so that straights are avoided and then making any selection of five suitsbesides the four that are all alike. This yields the following number of  p-high hands when p is between5 and 13 included  (in the case of ace-high hands, the bold 1  should be replaced by 2 because there are two disallowed collections of 4 kicker ranks, namelyKQJT and 5432).

[ C(p-2,4) -1 ]  ( 4⁵ - 4 )     except for p=14 (ace-high).

Let's just factor out the second factor   4⁵ - 4  =  1020  to list only small numbers to which the probabilities of the  8  possible named high-card handsare proportional.  (These add up to  C(13,5)-10  =  1277.)

A-high	K-high	Q-high	J-high	10-high	9-high	8-high	7-high
493	329	209	125	69	34	14	4

InTexas hold 'em, the ultimate showdown between threeplayers would be when the winner has a royal flush,the runner-up four aces and the third four kings (everybody else would have aces and kings). The probability of this is only  1 in 10,464,946,021,530. Of course, it's never been reported!

Incredibly though, the two-player equivalent (royal flush vs. four aces)  was filmed in 2008during the WSOP main event  (see first link below). The commentator didn't give the correct probability  (1 in 790 million).

(2013-12-01)  
Straights and fulls don't have a kicker.  Flushes do.

Within a poker hand  (or, possibly, an incomplete  poker hand) the kicker  is the highest card, if any, which could break a tiebetween hands of the same name. If two like hands have the same kicker, lower cards  (lesser kickers) may be used to break the tie  (second kicker, third kicker and fourth kicker).

Straight flushes, full houses and straights don't have a kicker at all. Among those hands, there is a tie between all hands that bear the same name. (E.g., "Jacks full of aces").

Indraw poker orstud poker,the hands that are compared always consist of separate collections of cards. In those games, kickers are never needed forquads ortrips. In games with community cards however, includingTexas Hold 'em,the hands of two different players can share cards  (in fact, they always do) and kickers often play a rôle for those types of hands as well. For example, if quads are on the board in Texas hold 'em andthe fitfth community card is weak, then the kicker will most probably come from the hole cards;whoever has the highest will win... (InOmaha hold 'em, kickers are never needed for quadsbut they may play a rôle with trips.)

The kicker of a two-pair hand makes its description complete (e.g., "Queens and Jacks with an Ace kicker").

For a high-card hand,  the kicker is the second-highest card (e.g., "Queen-high with a Jack kicker"). Some or all of the remaining three cards could be relevant in a showdown (second, third and fourth kickers).

Likewise, the kicker in a flush is the second-highest card and the three lesser kickersmay help break a tie, if need be.

King-high flush with a Jack kicker :

(2013-10-14)  
A symmetry that would give "deuces or better" one to one odds exactly.

Theabove table is for standard rules which allow 10 possible "heights" for a straight; The ace belongs to both the highest and lowest straights; respectively  AKQJT  (broadway) and  5432A  (wheel, bicycle  or bike).

Two lesser-known nonstandard rules exist: Under theno-wheel rule,  5432A  isn't a straight at alland the above four bold occurences of 10  should be replaced by 9. Conversely, under the full-wheel rule,  3 lower straights areadded  (432AK, 32AKQ and 2AKQJ in that order)  and the bold numbers 10 should be replaced by 13. This changes the respective counts for (non-royal)straight flushes, flushes, straights and "high cards" as follows:

• 32, 5112,   9180 and 1303540   (no-wheel; 9 different straights).
• 36, 5108, 10200 and 1302540   (standard; 10 different straights).
• 48, 5096, 13260 and 1299480   (full-wheel; 13 different straights).

Any mathematician will find the full-wheel rule far more appealing,as it respects a perfect symmetry betweenthe 13 heights within any of the 9 basic poker categories (lumping royal flushes and straight flushes into the same category). Heights are merely used as tiebreakers within eachcategory.  Indeed, all probabilities become simpler fractions because of the regularityof this nice symmetrical convention. The ultimate reduction pertains to the probability of getting at least a pair, which becomes exactly  1 to 1...

The three "new" type of straights are just ace-high in standard poker.  Thus, the probabilities ofthe 8 possible high-card hands in perfect-poker are proportionalto the following numbers  (adding up to C(13,5)-13  =  1274).

A-high	K-high	Q-high	J-high	10-high	9-high	8-high	7-high
	329	209	125	69	34	14	4

(2013-09-20)  
This is a topic related to, but distinct from, casino gaming chips.

Gambling with actual coins is possible but presents difficulties. Pieces of ivory begat the chip.  Printed checks begat the plate.

... / ...

When only three or four chip denominations are used,their values are often in a geometric progression of ratio  4 or 5  (e.g.,  1-5-25 or 1-5-25-100).

The fourth denomination is sometimes used as a  "unit of account",much larger than the other three, for high-limit games. One example might be  1, 5, 25, 250. In the televised Million-Dollar Cash Game  they use 1,5,10,250  (actual denominations are  100, 500, 1000 and 25000).

Large tournaments start with low denominations in the early eliminationstages and work up their way to huge denominations in the final table(s). For visual effects in successive video, they use different denominationswhich translate in a rainbow of colors from start to finish but,usually, only 3 or 4 of those are used simultaneusly on each table.

The colors are consistent within a tournament, a casino or a set of casinosat a given time but there's little or no overall coordination as the followingtable will serve to demonstrate.

Pastel high denominations are rare. A true mint-colored  25000  chip appears inSun-Fly'sValentino ceramic collection. Unfortunately, theirLucky Dragon 25000 chip is beige... At right, is the most affordable  ($0.10)  39 mm chip of that denomination;the brown-rimmed Ace Casino  chip with laser-graphic. For home use, denominations beyond 25000 are nowhere to be found.

Commercial poker chips are produced in the following grades:

• Plastic (ABS):  Cheap undersizedlightweight chips (typ. 1.6 grams).
• Composite:  Mixture of clay and resin  (d = 1.85).  Typically 8 g.
• Full Clay:  Compressed clay with a binding agent.  About9 grams.
• Ceramic:  Synthetic ceramics, with direct imprint.  About10 grams.
• Slugged: Composite clay with a metal insert  (between 11 g and 14 g).

Lightweight plastic chipsare only recommended for travelling. Most experts favor the traditional 9-gram clay chips  ("full clay"). However, the newer composites  (with or without metal inserts)  are cheaper andcan withstand more abuse while retaining "nearly" the same feel and sound. Finally, ceramics are the most durable kind (the graphics are imprinted on the chip itself, not on a sticker) at a cost midway between top-notch clay chips and ordinary composites.

In the following table, the "colors" column tells how many of the 12 basicdenominations  (0.25,0.5,1,5,10,25,50,100,500,1000,5000,10000) are available in the colors listed above. The "+" sign indicates that other colors are offered in addition to those  (or instead of them). Prices are listed for a single chip to allow comparisons, although you may have to buy awhole pack  (usually, 25 chips)  to get that price.

The lightweight interlocking radial  poker chips were once virtually the onlyones available for home use.  They came in only three colors, without denominations, universally interpreted as white for 1, red for 5 and blue for 10 (mirroring the lowest denominations in US coins; pennies, nickels and dimes). Due to the interlocking features, a stack of N of these has a height of about (1.9 N + 0.2) milimeters  (for the Bicycle brand)  they weighonly  1.6 g  each for a diameter of  38.1 mm  (compared to a nominaldiameter of  39.4 mm  for standard casino chips). The effective volume  (2.1 cc)  is about half the volume  (4.2 cc) of typical casino chips.  Having a density of  0.76, ABS chips float in water.

Chips of that type are nowavailablein the full "standard" spectrum made popular by other types of poker chips: brown (0.25), dark grey (0.5), white (1), red (5), blue(10), green (25), black (100), purple (500),yellow (1000), orange (10000) and pink (either 2.50 or 5000).  At this writing,this leaves out only the need for a darker shade of pink for an unambiguous 5000, and light-blue (or cyan) for 50.

Beyond that are the various grades of full-sized poker chips, inspired by standard  39 mmcasino chips (the nominal diameter is sometimes quoted as 39.4 mm,the thickness is 3.4 mm, the volume is 4.1 cc or 4.2 cc).

The first mass-produced full-sized poker chips for home-use were the premium bicycle chips (7.8 g) thesuited  design marketed by Wal-Martand the  Da Vincistriped dice  chips. The latter feature the 6 possibledice pips close to the rim betweensquarish white stripes  (blue stripes for the white chip) which wrap around to the other side  (it was the first time a chipintended for home use had any kind of edge stripe mimicking those found on casino chips). None of the above have imprinted denominations.

In the Fall of 2003, an amateur  (Chris Moneymaker)  grabbed the most prestigious titlein the world of poker  (theWSOP"main event" inTexas hold 'hem). This grabbed the imagination of the public who suddenly became interested in home poker tournamentsand serious  poker chips, ressemblingcasino chips,to make them more glamorous. Traditional makers of casino chips could only fill the upper-end of that new market with overpriced pieces.

New companies jumped in and began to provide quality chips at a more reasonnable price level (seearticle byJeffrey Smith,who helped create Claysmith in 2003 andBrybelly in 2004).

---

Here are reviews of some lines of poker chips currently available for home use, as tabulated above:

The 2-Stripe Twist  line is one of the best deals around at $0.08 per chip. Those chips have exactly the same weight as the original premium ("tournament") Bicycle chips (7.8 g, which is about 20% less than casino clay chips).  You get a small stack of thesefor what you'd pay for a single Paulson clay chip. The graphic design has no wording besides the denomination in large black numbers (without  a dollar symbol, which is an annoying habit in most other denominated chip lines). The color scheme is nice, except for the 10 and 50 denominations which come in the same shade ofblue with the same yellow stripes, which makes is risky to use both denominations on thetable  (which is of little concern to me, as don't care for either of those marginal denominations, anyway).

The loaded  (13.2 g) Yin Yang  line is also an excellent deal. I am partial to the nifty design which includes no wording and no currency symbol. This is the type I have selected formy own use. The only thing I don'tlike about those chips is the lack of contrast between the 100 and 500 denominations (the former is black, the latter is a very dark shade of purple). I have chosen to discard the 10 and 50 denominations (the less common 2, 20, 250 and 2000 denomination aren't available at all in this collection) and to supplement my basic setwith a dozen of the above 25000 Ace Casino  chips which are made by the same manufacturer (with identical rims).

The Scroll Ceramic  line is missing  only 4  non-essential denominations ($0.25, $10, $50 and $10000).  The color coding of the rest is flawless. This makes it a perfect candidate to be supplemented by just two off-brand plaques: $25,000  (mint)  &100,000  (lavender). Those could be issued for re-buys by obtaining a color-cange from the chip leaders...

The Venerati  line is apparentlyno longerlive up tothe hype. What they now sell under that name are mere replicas of the stunning originalsat the same hefty price  ($0.39 "on sale") with less vibrant colors, poorer print and less weight  (9.3g instead of 10g). 

(2013-10-21)  
What's the best composition of a set of chips with several denominations?

A typical set of 1000 chips for home tournaments might include: 300 white chips (1), 200 reds (5), 200 greens (25), 200 blacks (100), 50 purples (500),  and 50 yellows (1000). What's the pattern here? What would be the most satisfying breakout?

I own a set of 324 poker chips with 9 different denominations, from 1 to 25000. The number of chips of every denomination is a whole number of dozens. Thus, the chips can be distributed evenly among 1,2,3,4,6 or 12 players. For other numbers of players, the simplest number to distribute the chips at thebeginning of the game is to leave a few of them in the bank so that the rest is evenly divisibleby the number of players. The following table shows how many chips of each denomination this method assigns to every player,as a function of the total number of players:

The total face values of the chips is  522336. In the case of 5 players, the naive scheme illustrated by the above table will assign 60 chipsto every player for a total value of:

19 + 9 (5+25+100) + 4 (500+1000) + 2 (5000+10000+25000)   =   87189

The value of the  300  chips in play is five times that  (435945). The 24 leftover chips have a value of 86381. Can we waste less than that and distribute the leftover among the players?

Yes, we can.  We must leave  $1  in the bank (since 522336 isn't divisible by 5)  but we can distribute the rest evenlyamong the 5 players in several ways. None of them is trivial.  The following table illustrates one of them:

Splitting the above set of chips (minus $1) evenly among 5 players : A,B,C,D,E

Color	Value	Pieces	A	B	C	D	E	Bank
White	1	96	17	17	17	22	22	1
Red	5	48	10	10	10	9	9	0
Green	25	48	12	12	8	8	8	0
	100	48	11	11	12	7	7	0
	500	24	6	6	2	5	5	0
Yellow	1000	24	5	5	2	6	6	0
Melon	5000	12	3	3	2	2	2	0
Pumpkin	10000	12	3	3	4	1	1	0
	25000	12	2	2	2	3	3	0

(2015-05-15)  
Accelerated structure sheet of NBC Heads Up  at Caesar's Palace.

This invitational tournament had a  $25000  buy-in. Each player started round one with  25000,  in chips of  3  denominations (25, 100, 500).

The field of 64 is divided into 4 brackets  (Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds) of 16 players, with 8 matches taking place at once. Only the winner of a match advances to the next round. The winner is decided among the last two players in "best of three" matches (the starting stack being reset to 800k at the beginning of each of those matches).

Only three or four different chip denominations are in play at a time,according to the following detailed structure sheet :

The total prize money of 1650k exceeds by 50k the buy-in feescollected from the 64 participants (25k each).  NBC paid for that difference.

(2013-12-30)  
Counting chips.  Betting with chips.

Chips are counted by heaps of five.  Four such heaps form a properstack  (20 chips of the same denomination). Avoid dirty stacks  (including at least one chip ofanother denomination)  or barber poles (several stacks of different denominations intentionally put on topof each other).  Both of these can be illegal in some clubs.

It's acceptable to put incomplete stacks on top of two stacks of equalheight  (preferably of 20 or 40 chips of the same denomination).

(2013-09-28)  
Fidgeting like a pro is part of the intimidation...

In almost any video of high-stakes poker, there are silent momentswhere you hear only one noise, produced continuously by several playersaround the table:  The characteristic clicking produced bychip shuffling  (also called riffling). It's almost as if you can't enter a poker tournamentunless your fingers are trained to do this move,which is the most popular and possibly the easiest of all chip tricks.

The butterfly is called the "coin star" in magic circles (tutorial by Rich Ferguson).

Themuscle passofJohn Cornelius.  It's hard and it hurts.

(2013-11-17)  
"Down the River"  was the most popular form of pokerbefore the rise ofNLHE andPLO.

In seven-card stud poker, there are neither blind bets nor community cards. The cards dealt to each player are for his own use only. However, all but two of those  (the hole cards) are dealt face-up for everyone to see.

Initially. everyone posts an ante bet andevery player is dealt two hole cards and one face-up card. The player with the lowest face-up card is required to startastandard round of bettingby wagering at least the minimum agreed upon ahead of time. This forced wager is called a bring-in  bet.

Players who fold put all their cards into themuck. It up to the remaining player to remember what up-cards were thus taken out of play. As the rest of the game unfolds, that information can be critical.

(2013-09-22)  
A combo has the same value as the best 5-card poker hand it contains.

In several variants of poker, including 7-card stud  and Texas hold 'em, your final hand is the best 5-card poker hand that can be extracted from7 randomly-dealt cards.  In that case, the probability of finally obtainingeach type ofpoker hand is given by the following table:

A royal flush is thus 21 times more frequent if youhave 7 cards to choose from, instead of just 5. You get less than a pair with probability  17.41%.

Enumerating Flushes :

The enumeration of the various kinds of flushes demonstrates the delicate computationsinvolved in building the above table, usingchoice numbers:

We first remark that there are four times as manyflushes as there are spade  flushes  (that wouldn't be true if wehad at least 10 cards to choose from, as we could have then have several flushes indifferent suits and would need to useinclusion-exclusionenumeration.)  So, let's just count the spade flushes...

The number of ways to have at least 5 spades among 7 cards is:

C(13,5) C(52-13,2)  +  C(13,6) C(52-13,1)  +  C(13,7)   =   1022307

Among those, the number of straight flushes (including royal flushes)  is:

10 C(52-13,2)  + 71 C(52-13,1)  + 217   =   10396

Among those straight flushes, the number of  (spade)  royal flushes is:

C(52-13,2)  + C(13-5,1) C(52-13,1)  + C(13-5,2)   =   1081

The last two results, multiplied by 4, give us directly the tabulated numbers ofroyal flushes and other straight flushes, respectively:

4 (1081)   =   4324       and      4 (10396 - 1081)   =   37260 

Now, there are no fulls or quads among the 1022307 combos of 7 cardswhich include at least 5 spades.  Therefore,they are all tallied as spade flushes unless they contain a straight flushand the total number of 7-card combos that make a flush is, as tabulated:

4 (1022307 - 10396)   =   4047644 

Enumerating Straights :

A 7-card combo is tallied as a straight when it contains a sequence of at leastfive consecutive ranks, provided the most common suit occurs less than five times. This can be achieved in the four distinct ways listed below. Each of those leads to a different way to count the allowed repartitions of suits:

• 3372180 combos of 7 singletons containing a straight but no flush:
  217 [ 4⁷ - 4 C(7,5) 3² - 4 C(7,6) 3 - 4 C(7,7) ]  =   3372180
• 2530440 combos of apair and 5 singletons, likewise restricted:
  71  C(6,1)  C(4,2)  [ 4⁵ - C(2,1) {C(5,4)3 + C(5,5)} - C(4-2,1) ]
• Two pairs and 3 singletons, containing a straight but no flush:
  10 C(5,2)  [ C(4,2)² 4³ - 4 3² ]  =   226800
• Three-of-a-kind and 4 singletons, containing a straight but no flush:
  10 C(5,1) C(4,3)  [ 4⁴ - C(3,1) ]  =   50600

This adds up to  3372180 + 2530440 + 226800 + 50600  =  6180020 

The Remaining Enumerations :

The number of 7-cards combos with quads  in them is obtainedby multiplying the 13 ways of picking four like cards intothe number of ways to pick three other cards from the rest of the deck:

C(13,1) C(52-4,7-4)  =  224848 

A full house  is obtained in one of three ways:

• A set, a pair, two singletons:
  C(13,1) C(4,3) C(13-1,1) C(4,2) C(13-2,2) C(4,1)²  =  3294720
• A set, two pairs: C(13,1) C(4,3) C(13-1,2) C(4,2)²  =  123552
• Two sets, a singleton: C(13,2) C(4,3)² C(52-8,7-6)  =  54912

This adds up to  3294720 + 123552 + 54912  =  3473184 

Three of a kind  can only be extracted from a combo consisting of a set and four singletonsforming neither a straight nor a flush.  A proper choice of the suits isobtained by first picking 3 suits for the set and, then, any suits for the singletons except  a single suit present in the set.  The tally is thus:

(C(13,5)-10)  C(5,1)  C(4,3)  [ 4⁴ - C(3,1) ]  =   6461620 

Two-pair  hands come from only two types of 7-card combos, namely:

• Three pairs and a singleton:
  C(13,3) C(4,2)³ C(52-12,7-6)  =  2471040
• Two pairs and three singletons forming neither a straight nor a flush:(C(13,5)-10) C(5,2)  [ C(4,2)² 4³ - 4 C(4-1,2)² ]  =   28962360

This adds up to  2471040 + 28962360  =  31433400 

To form a 7-card hand which amounts to a pair, you first choose a collection of 6 ranksbesides the71 in which there's a straight. Then, you choose one of those six as the rank of the pair and pick 2 suits for the pair. Last, you choose 5 suits for the singletons by avoiding having either at least 4 singletonmatching a suit from the pair or 5 singletons of the same suit not represented in the pair:

(C(13,6)-71)  C(6,1)  C(4,2)  [ 4⁵ - C(2,1) {C(5,4)3 + C(5,5)} - C(4-2,1) ]

As advertised in the above table, this boils down to  58627800 

Finally, the other  7-card combos (which contain neither several cards of the same rank nor straights nor flushes)  are obtainedby selecting 7 distinct ranks besides the217 whichform a straight and then assigning suits to those in such a way that five cards never belong to the same suit, The choices of the latter kind correspond to the square bracket below (where the three negative terms tally combos with 5, 6 or 7 cards of the dominant suit):

(C(13,7)-217) [ 4⁷ - 4 C(7,5) 3² - 4 C(7,6) 3 - 4 C(7,7) ]  =   23294460 

That's the difference between C(52,7) and the sum of all previous tallies. 

Why do good poker variants involve 7 cards ?

With 5, 6 or 7 cards to choose from, the same basic hierarchy is respected.

Not so with 8 cardsor more,where 3-of-a-kind becomes rarer than a full-house. With 9 cards or more to select from, one pair is rarer than two pairs.

Among 11 cards, it's almost impossible to have less than a pair (the actual probability is  0.00003824...) with 12 cards it's actually impossible.

(2013-10-12)  
Folding, checking, calling and raising.  Limit, pot-limit and no-limit.

There are two type of forced bets:

• The ante (from the Latin word for "before")  is a wager that all players arerequired to make, before any cards are dealt, for the priviledge to play a hand. The amount of the ante is set by the organizer of the game (the host, the house, the casino)  and it can be zero (in poker, it often is).
• The blinds  which must be posted by the player tothe left of the dealer button  (big blind)  and the next one (small blind)  "blindly", regardless of their cards  (hence the name). The small blind is usually at most half of the big blind (BB) but it's up to theorganizer to determine the values of the blinds ahead of time... For example, in a low-stake game played with whole denominations chips,the big blind could be $5 and the small blind could be $2. On the first round of betting, the minimum bet for the player in the small blindposition is the difference between the big blind and the small blind.

Thereafter, the basic choice is always to fold or to bet. To fold is to give up entirely without putting any more money at risk but withoutthe possibility of winning anything. In certain circumstances, the minimum bet is zero and taking that opportunity of a zero betis called checking.  You stay in the game for free, so to speak. It usually males no sense to fold if you can check, unless you absolutely want to avoidrevealing the hand you were dealt (presumably a weak one which almost certainly can't win). If you fold (or if you win because everybody else has folded) you don't have to reveal you hand. Showing your hand is a valuable piece of information for skilled opponentsand it can be a good idea not to do that in certain cases,even if it means "foolishly" giving up a tiny chance at winning the pot.

A betting round always proceeds clockwise around the table,giving every player an opportuniy to call, raise or fold until everybody who didn'tfold has bet the same amount.

The first betting starts in different ways depending on the poker variant. In seven-card studs, it starts with whoever has the lowest up-card. In hold'em poker  (Texas or Omaha variants) every round starts with the player to the left of the dealer button (which indicates the nominal dealer,who doesn't do any actual dealing if a professional dealer is on duty). However, in the first round only, that player is required to post one "big blind" before receiving any cards and the next player mustlikewise post one "small blind"  (usually equal to half of the big blind). After everyone has spoken, those two players get a chance to call or raisethe previous player by deducted from the amount the owethe amount that they've already payed "blindly".

In subsequent rounds, "checking" is allowed  (which is effectively betting orcalling a zero amount)  until somebody actually bets something.

In a betting round, wagers can only increase. After the first nonzero bet  (see checking, as discussed above) betting is called either calling  (when waging an amount equal tothe previous bet)  or raising (when the wager is greater than the previous bet). The usual rules impose that a raise must be at least twice the amount of the previous bet.

When a betting round ends with a call, the game proceeds with the next stage (either more cards are dealt or the final showdown occurs where actualhands are compared). Otherwise, another round of betting occurs, starting with a minimum bet of zero (which is to say that players are allowed to "check" until one of them "bets").

Continued on Part 2

Naming Single Cards :

• Bullet :  Ace (A).
• Cowboy :  King (K).
• Lady :  Queen (Q).
• Fishhook :  Jack  (J).  Because of the J-shape and its appeal tofish.
• Paint :  King, Queen or Jack.
• Dime :  10, ten  (T).
• Niner, neener :  9.
• Snowman :  8.
• Cane, walking stick :  7.
• Sax :  6.
• Nickel :  5.
• Sailboat :  4.
• Trey, crab :  3.
• Deuce, duck :  2.
• Rag :  An unspecified card lower than 9  (as in "Ace-rag pocket").

Start hands in Texas Hold 'em  (2 hole cards):

• Pocket :  The two face-down cards dealt to a player  (Texas hold 'em).
• Pocket Pair :  Two matching hole cards.
• Suited : Said of two cards belonging to the samesuit.
• Off-suit, unsuited : Qualifier for two cards in differentsuits.
• Premium hands :  AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK-suited.
• Suited connectors :  Two consecutive cards in the same suit.
• Gappers :  Two non-consecutive cards belonging to the same straight.
• Big slick:  Ace-King.
• Big ace :  A-K or A-Q.
• Ace-rag, ace-little, weak ace :  An ace and a lower card  (below 9).
• Computer hand :  Q-7 off-suit wins 49.9% ofheads-up showdowns.
• 9-5 :  Dolly Parton  ("Nine to Five"  movie/song).
• 10-4 :   Highway-patrol  (overused substitute for OK in radio talk).
• Hard Eight :  4-4  (this dice throw in craps is called "8, the hard way").
• Lucky hand, Fate hand, Favorite hand :  A modest 2-card starting hand that a player feels a superstitious attraction to (e.g., Ace-4 of diamonds).
  • J-9   :   Scotty Ngyuen   [cf.2010 ]
  • 10-8 :   Tony G.   [ WPT Bad Boys of Poker II,2006 ]
  • 10-7 :   Daniel Negreanu  [2006 |2011 ]
  • 10-2 :   Doyle Brunson [cf.Melanie Weisner vs. Doyle Brunson]
  • 9-2   :   Guy Laliberté [HSP S4 E13, before Farha/Gold negotiation]
  • 8-6   :   Tom Dwan  [Compilation |vs. Phil Laak]
  • 7-6   :   David Oppenheimer   [cf.2012 ]

Start hands inOmaha Hold 'em  (4 hole cards):

• Pocket :  The four face-down cards dealt to a player  (Omaha hold 'em).
• All-suited, full-suited, fully suited, quad-suited : 4 cards in one suit.
• Triple-suited, tri-suited : 3 cards in onesuit, the last in another.
• Double-suited : Two cards in onesuit and two cards in another.
• Single-suited : Two cards in onesuit and two cards in two other suits.
• Unsuited, rainbow : All four cards in different suits.

Naming  (5-card)  Poker Hands:

• Royal Flush :  The highest hand  (ace-high straight flush).
• Quads :  Four of a kind  (e.g., 4 aces = quad' aces = AAAAx).
• Boat :  Full house  (e.g., "jacks full of sixes" JJJ66).
• Big Full :  Full house where the set is higher than the pair  (JJJ66).
• Underfull :  Full house where the set is lower than the pair  (666JJ).
• Broadway :  The highest-ranking straight, namely  AKQJT.
• Wheel, Bicycle, Bike :  The lowest-ranking straight, namely  5432A.
• Set, trips :  3 of a kind  (3 queens = trip' queens = set of queens).
• Blaze :  Two-pairhand with only facecards
• Kicker : Highest tie-breaking card  (between like-named hands).

General Organization & House Rules :

• On the felt :  Live game, as opposed to "online".
• Player :  Someone who has been dealt cards in a hand.
• Calling the clock : Upon request of any player, the organizers must force a playerto make a decision within one minute  (sometimes, 30 s or 90 s). This is usually automatic  (without the need for a player request)  in online games.
• Railbird :  A spectator  (not a player)  behind an actual rail or not.
• Heads-up : A game of poker played between only two players.
• n-handed game :  A game between  n  players.
• Ring game, full-ring game :  A 10-handed game.
• Full table :  A 9-handed game.
• Short table :  5 players or less.
• SNG : "Sit-and-go" single-table tournament.
• Satellite :  Low-fee competition for free admission into another tournament.
• Buy-in :  The initial purchase of chips to participate in a tournament.
• Re-buy :  Purchase of chips to re-enter a multiple-table tournament after eliminationat an early stage  (or to replenish one'sstack in a cash game). Compulsory re-buys take the form oflammers.
• Bubble :  The set of finalists who are not  awarded any prize money.
• In the money (ITM) :  Tournament winners sharing the prize money.
• Big Blind :  The amount that the person left of the dealer must wager before cards are dealt. Often used as a unit  (BB)  to measurestacks.
• Splashing the Pot :  The impolite practice of throwing chips instead of pushing them neatly in stacks.
• Small Blind :  The amount that the second person to the dealer's left must wager "blindly",  before cards are dealt. It's normally about half  of the big blind (the organizer of the game must specify that).
• Ante :  The wager which everybody must put into the pot before cards are dealt. The organizer may set the ante to zero  (and often does).
• Rake :  The house's take, off every pot  (e.g.,  10% up to $4).
• Pot bonus : Reverserake, put by the house into the pot to encourage play.
• Dead chips :  Statutory contributions to the pot  (bonus, blinds, ante).
• Straddle :  By posting twice the big blind before cards are dealt,the playerunder the gun gets last preflop action  (Nevada, Atlantic City).
• No-wheel :  Nonstandard house-ruledisallowing 5432A  as a straight.
• Full-wheel :  Rulewhereby 432AK,  32AKQ  &  2AKQJ  are straights.
• Seven-deuce rule : Every player gives a bonus to a winner with 7-2.
• One-orbit penalty : Sitting out until thebutton returns to the same place.
• One-chip rule : A single-chip bet isn't a raise unless  otherwise stated.
• Color up : Exchange chips for higher denominations  (e.g., for the next stage of a tournament).

Positions (clockwise) around the table :

• Button :  The marker put in front of the player reputed to deal the cards.
• Position :  A player's location, with respect to the dealer button.
• On the Button :  The position of the dealer  (the strongest spot).
• Dead Button :  The button marks the spot of someone who's just left.
• Under the Gun :  The third spot left of the dealer  (after both blinds).
• Under the Gun Plus One :  The fourth spot  (UTG+1).
• Cutoff:  The position to the right  of the dealer.
• Hijack position :  The position to the right  of the cutoff.
• In position : 
• Out of position : 

Psychology & Superstition :

• Card-dead :  Qualifies a player who believe he can't get good cards.
• Cold deck, cooler : 
• Tells :  Involuntary reactions to the cards a player is dealt.
• Reads :  Interpretations of thetells toput a player on a hand.
• Level :  (Noun)  A ruse.  (Verb)  To outsmart.
• Leveling War :  "He knows that I know that he knows, etc."
• White Magic :  The black art of reading opponents.  [Phil Hellmuth]
• Tilt (emotional state) :  Reckless play by someone who is upset.
• Hollywooding :  Adopting a fake composure to mislead opponents.
• Slowroll : Delayed disclosure of the winning hand  (rude & useless).
• Showboating :  Revealing hole cards after a successfull bluff.
• Putting a player on a hand :  Guessing the hand of a player.
• One-Time : The overused joke of asking the gods of poker to grant you luck just for once  ("let me use my one-time now").
• Fubar, foobar :  F...ed up beyond all recognition.
• Fugazi :  F...ed up, got ambushed, zipped in [a body bag].

Money Management & Betting Strategy :

• Stack :  The value of all the chips in front of a player, who can wager nothing beyond that on the next hand  (in a "cash game" he may be allowed to "buy in" more chipsfrom the organizer before the start of the next play).  Chips can't be taken out of play from the stackunless the player leaves the table early  (as is only allowed in cash games).
• Chip leader :  Player with the most chips  (in tournament or table).
• Short stack :  The player with the fewest chips.
• Lammer : A special token indicating a specific player priviledge. Insometournaments, one or two lammers are given along the starting stack. They can be used to reload (for a predetermined equivalent in regular tournament chips) at any time between hands, during the initial stages. A lammer cannot be wagered directly and is not at risk during ahand.  Two lammers would thus enable a player to all-in twice andstill be alive  (all lammers must be redeemed before the laterstages of the tournament). The prizes for asatellite may beawarded in the form of lammers  redeemablefor thebuy-in of the main tournament.

Stages of the Game  &  Outcomes:

• Muck :  The pile of discarded cards  (to muck = to fold).
• Preflop :  The betting round before any community cards are dealt.
• Board :  The community cards dealt so far  (flop, turn and river in Hold'em).
• Flop :  The first three cards of the community hand  (Hold'em).
• To flop :  To obtain after the first three community cards are revealed.
• Turn :  The fourth community card.  Fourth street.  (Hold'em)
• River ("torrent") : The last community card.  Fifth street.  (Hold'em)
• Rainbow Flop :  Flop consisting of three cards from different suits.
• Flush draw :  Four cards of the same suit, before the river is drawn.
• Straight draw :  Incomplete straight  (either gut shot or open-ender).
• Up-and-down straight draw :  Four consecutive cards, without an ace.
• Gut shot :  Inside straight draw  (also used for AKQJ or 432A).
• Broadway draw :  An ace and three of the four cards K, Q, J, T.
• Wheel draw :  An ace and three of the four cards 5, 4, 3, 2.
• Double belly buster :  Double-gap straight draw  (e.g., KJT97, AKJT87).
• Board pairing :  Two matching cards among the community cards.
• Paired board :  Community cards with a pair among them.
• Overpair :  A pocket pair higher than any card on theboard.
• Underpair :  A pocket pair lower than any card on theboard.
• Overcard :  A hole card higher than the highest card on theboard.
• Top Pair :  A hole card matching the highest card on theboard.
• Bottom Pair :  A hole card matching the lowest card on theboard.
• Middle Pair :  A hole card matching a board card neither lowest nor highest.
• Top Set :  A pocket pair matching the highest card on theboard.
• Bottom Set :  A pocket pair matching the lowest card on theboard.
• Middle Set :  A pocket pair matching a board card neither low nor high.
• Rolled-up : Involving the three down cards  (in7-card stud).
• Outs :  Undealt cards which would improve the status of a hand.
• Scare cards : 
• Textured Board : 
• Dry Board : 
• Wet Board : 
• Wrap :  (Omaha hold 'em).
• Air :  Community or hole cards which have no tangible value.
• Brick, blank :  A community card which doesn't help any playeror a hole card which doesn't help its owner.
• To brick, to brick out :  To miss, to fail for lack of hits.
• Gin Card :  A community card which completes the winning hand.
• Runner-runner, backdoor :  Hand made with both turn andriver.
• Running spades,running sevens, etc. : Turn and river completing a hand.
• Suck-Out :  A lucky draw which turns a weak hand into a winner.
• Bad Beat : A loss occuring despite sound play  (cf. suck-out).
• Showdown :  Final comparison ofhands which haven't been folded.
• Flop the big hand :  Show the winning hand at showdown time.
• Side Pot :  Settles a showdown when some players areall-in.
• Odd chip : In asplit pot,a chip is awarded if it can't be divided.
• Running it Twice (or more) : A gentleman's agreement whereby the remaining community cardsare dealt twice or more, after all betting has ceased. The winners of every deal get equal portions of the pot.

Betting :

• Chip :  Gaming token, often standing for a definite amount ofmoney.
• Action :  Either the act of betting or the amount so wagered.
• Pot :  The aggregate of all chips put in play at some point in time.
• Squeeze Play :
• Covering :  Betting at least as much as a previous bettor in the round.
• Refund :  The uncovered part of a bet is refunded.
• To fold, to pass, to lay down :  To give up the hand entirely.
• Check :  Bet no additional amount on one's turn  (without folding).
• Check-raise : Raise after having checked in the same betting round.
• Check-fold :  In online play, a preset decision to fold if anybody bets.
• Value bet :
• Thin value bet :
• Bluffing :  Pretending to have a stronger hand to make opponentsfold.
• Representing a hand: Bluffing with that (strong)  hand in mind.
• Float : A bluffing bet meant to steal the pot on a later round.
• Semi-Bluff :  Bluffing with a hand having an outside chance to win.
• To Call :  To wager the same as the previous player in the round.
• Flat call :  An emphatic way to describe a call, as opposed to a raise.
• Instacall :  Call immediately  (with little or no time delay).
• Raise : To "raise it", one must post at least twice the last bet wagered.
• Instaraise :  Raise immediately  (with little or no time delay).
• Reraising, going over the top [of someone] :  Raising after someone'sraise.
• Three-betting :  Raising after someone else's reraise.
• Four-betting :  Raising after someone else's three-bet.
• Overbet :
• 5p Gunning (UK) :  Overbetting to secure a very meager pot.
• To push all in, to be all-in : To wager one's entirestack, either agressively or to stay "in the pot" till showdown [standing up].
• To shove :  To pushall in.
• Slow play, sandbag :  Downplay a strong hand to induce betting.
• Three-betting :  Putting in the second raise in a round (three-bet).
• Polarized range : Betting heavily on either very weak or very strong hands.
• C-bet, continuation bet :  A preflop raiser bets the flop instead of checking.
• Donk bet : Turn bet into the preflop raiser out of position.
• Loose and tight play : Measured by one'sVPIP  and PFR ratios.
• Playing solid :
• PFR :  Pre-Flop Raise.  Percentage of hands one raises pre-flop.
• VPIP :  Voluntarily put in pot.  Percentage of calls or raises pre-flop.
• Small-ball:  Stack increase with low-risk post-flop play.
• Position awareness :
• Chase :  A player with fewer chips chases whoever has more chips.
• Limping :  Calling with a strong hand, instead of raising  (cf.slow play).
• Grinding : 
• Bluffing into a dry side-pot :  Don't do that!
• The nuts (the "Brazils") : Unbeatable hole cards for a givenboard. 
• Second-nuts :  Two hole-cards that can only lose against the nut hand.
• Nut :  Adjective  (nut hand = thenuts). E.g., nut flush draw, nut straight...
• Monster :  A very strong hand.
• Free pass :
• Checking-behind :  Checking after all other players have checked as well.
• Free card :  Risk-free access to the next card(s) on the board.
• Connect :  The flop and the hole-cards make a decent hand  (or draw).
• Playing the board :  Hole cards don't improve upon the 5 community cards  (it's a tie, at best).
• Perfect range play :
• Hero play :
• To felt  a player is to take all his chips  (leaving bare felt).
• Pot odds & Implied Odds:
• To Fish:  To chase draws with a weak hand, even when facing aggressive players.
• Donk, Donkey, Fish :  A weak player.
• A-Fish, agrafish, agressive fish :
• P-Fish, pacifish, passifish, passive fish :
• Coin station :
• Rounder :  An expert who makes the round of high-stakes games.
• Maniac :  Agressive player who plays most hands and raises a lot.
• Pot-committed : 
• Stealing blinds :  Making everyone fold when only blinds are at stake.
• Isolate the Limper:  Break someone's slow play with a hefty wager.
• Showdown value :
• Equity :
• Fold equity :
• Setting a fair line :

Chat Abbreviations in Online Poker :

• hi :  Greetings.
• nh :  Nice hand  (a graceful way to condede).
• vnh, gh, n1, g1 :  Very nice hand, great hand, nice one, great one.
• ty, thx, tx :  Thank you, thanks.
• yw, yvw :  You're welcome, you're very welcome.
• tc :  Take Care  (saying goodbye to someone who's leaving).
• str8 :  Straight.

• bm : Belle main.